


An Ocean View

by angeldescendant



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Azure Moon Route, Brotherly Love, Canon Compliant, Gen, Moving On, Swordfighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22633312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeldescendant/pseuds/angeldescendant
Summary: Felix finally battles his brother and his demons.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Glenn Fraldarius
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	An Ocean View

**Author's Note:**

> First fic for FE3H and I love Felix so much aaaa I’m sorry I hope you like this!
> 
> -The fic follows the Azure Moon Route after they take down Fhirdiad (and Rodrigue's gone TAT)

Felix knew this was a dream.

For one, his hair was loose. He had been thinking about cutting it for moons now, but war has not been too lenient with him, especially because he spent more time in the strategist’s tent rather than sleeping in his and Sylvain’s. The professor had been depending on him to stand fast on the front lines, much more than Sylvain, even that damn boar. He grinned at this as he ripped out a piece of fabric from his collar to tie his hair with, only for his left sleeve to mend again.

In addition, he tells himself as he covered his eyes from the dying sun, the sea was like glass. He needn’t bother with his coat and the sand hampers his footwork. The wind, not as cold or as unforgiving as the ones in Faerghus, still cuts through his aching bones. Even in dreams, he hasn’t recovered yet from the wounds he sustained in Fhirdiad. No matter, he says as he unsheathes his sword, lets it catch the half-light, and points it to the only other person with him.

“How long do you plan on standing there, Glenn?” Felix relishes every word as he takes off his boots, feels the cool bluish sand between his toes. They reminded him so much of the snowy plains near the boar’s castle walls. Glenn would always find him there frolicking with Ingrid and Sylvain, bearing the brunt of their snowballs. Felix was a shy boy then and would hide under the warmth of Glenn’s cape as he waits for him to scold his friends. His brother, that traitor, would end up hitting him with a snowball to the face, running away when Felix turns puce. Back then, he would turn red before bursting into tears.

Glenn taught him something then: Tears mean nothing if you don’t act afterwards. He ends up tottering after his brother or Ingrid or whoever attempted to attack him again, teeth seething with newfound fervor as he regains his dignity. _You only got yourself to take care of you in this world, Felix,_ he’d say when they were outside their summer villa, under the banner of stars.

_That’s not fair._

_It’ll save you from crying too much,_ he’d laugh off. _How’re you going to save people if you can’t save yourself first?_

Felix sighs as he slices the air, composes himself and resumes his stance.

“Done regretting?” Glenn chuckles as he takes out his own blade. One of those Zoltan swords. Maybe that was why Felix took it from one of the merchants back in Garrech Mach.

Felix nods. He’s forgotten that, despite Glenn’s dulcet baritone, he was only eighteen when he died. He’s older now and had been in far more wars than Glenn ever will.

“What? Getting cocky aren’t cha?” Glenn cuts through his hesitation like butter. “Just because you’ve been in more battles than your big brother? Don’t tell me how many times Sylvi saved your neck-“

“I saved his neck more than that bastard tried,” he seethes. “Don’t treat me like your baby brother. I’m older than you.”

“What, are we gonna keep adlibbing or are we gonna fight?” Glenn waves off. “Always my itty bitty brother who bawls whenever Sylvi or Dimitri pulls his ear-“

“Fuck off,” Felix snaps, and keeps himself steady as he charges, maintaining his footwork, not letting Glenn have the upper hand when taunting him. He has been patiently waiting to fight his dead brother in his dreams. He had told the professor of this, one time, many years ago.

_You will have to comfort him,_ replied the professor. _Otherwise, you will never be finished with this._

He slashes through Glenn’s left flank only to slice nothing but air. He repeats, thrusts, parries, charges, only to dodge his brother’s attack again. _Shit. Fuck._ “Fuck,” he panted as he ends up on the receiving end of Glenn’s blade. His brother’s smug leer never wavered since they began. He fucking detested that look. _Wait another thousand dreams more, and you might have a chance, little bro._

Look at him, all fucking riled up because Glenn shouldn’t treat him like the brat he wasn’t now.

“Took you long enough to appear,” Felix snarls as they cross blades, doing his best to not let this Glenn overpower him again.

“Not too long enough for you to beat me,” Glenn’s shit-eating grin only got wider as he retreated and let Felix catch his breath. “Come on, I was expecting more. Don’t tell me there’s a rematch lined up after this one. Pick a more advantageous venue for you, geez.”

“There won’t be another,” Felix said, eyeing possible holes in Glenn’s defences, assessing his speed and reflexes against his current environment. The sand was a fucking bitch. “And can’t believe you know how to navigate in this kind of battleground. You told me you’ve never been to Rhodos.”

“That’s what you think,” Glenn said. “You always did trust me too much.”

“No matter,” Felix said. “I’m not going to let you best me again. After I finally defeat you, I don’t need to see your ghost by then. I’ll be able to move forward.”

“And if I beat you here? Will you wait for me to haunt you, again?”

Felix readies his stance. “There won’t be a next time, Glenn.” He exhales and imagines the professor, then Thunder Catherine, then the boar. Imbibes their movements and replayes them on his head repeatedly. He grips tightly the other blade in his left.

Glenn whistles. “You know how to play with two swords now, huh?”

“Remember this one? It was supposed to be yours,” Felix said, as he switches hands the moment he entered Glenn’s range. He ducks Glenn’s mid-slash and parries the second one with the other, only for his left sword to stuck itself on Glenn’s sheath.

“Ah yes, the Sword of Moralta. Never thought he’d part with it so easily.”

“Must’ve learned from his mistake of not giving it to you at Duscur,” Felix says. “Maybe you wouldn’t have been done away with so easily.”

“Never thought you’d grow up and remain a brat, Felix,” Glenn said quietly. Felix nearly froze and got his head sliced off if he hadn’t retreated in time. Glenn’s mouth was a thin line now. Felix could feel the hairs on his arms rising. “Still blaming others for your shortcomings, aren’t you?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Felix gnashed his teeth. “You think I don’t blame myself for not stopping you from leaving then? For listening to all those lies about chivalry and honor and letting father regret nothing- How dare he- It’s his fucking fault- I want to forget you. I want to live without you being there, even if you aren’t- You’re always there.”

His brother talked about the beaches in Brigid once. He wanted to bring Felix and Rodrigue there with him, along with his mother. Watch the sun smolder in the distance as they then start a fire and feast on some game they can find. They would listen to his father’s stories about his time in Sreng. Probably have a mock battle with Glenn, before listening to their sing them off to sleep.

“But I’ll always be there,” Glenn smiles wanly. “Especially now that father’s gone.”

“Well, I don’t want you to be,” Felix says. “I don’t want any of this- your title, your legacy- it fucking hurts to remind people how much I’m like you to them… especially to Ingrid, that foolish woman-“

“So what do you want?” Glenn asks.

Felix looks at him in jest. “This is all I want. It’s already a dream come true to defeat you here. Prepare yourself.”

Glenn smiled that stupid smile again. “You’ve done a ton of things I never will and yet you dream too little.”

“Shut up,” Felix said, as he remembered back when he was thirteen, as Glenn bested him the third time that day. He would rarely come home since he was knighted and Felix made we the best of his brother’s time. What did he want to prove then? He wondered about that. If his brother did not die, would this burden of achieving victory against his brother be this heavy? Would he even care at all? “I didn’t want any of this.”

“So what do you want?” he repeats, infuriating Felix further.

“Nothing that involves you,” he said before hacking his frustration towards Glenn’s blade. _Stronger. Faster. Never Enough. Stronger. Faster. Never Enough. Stronger. Faster. Never- Fucking- Enough-_

“What is it then? Don’t tell me you’ve been too caught up in erasing me from your memory, you’ve forgotten everything else entirely. I’m not the future, Felix.”

“I know you aren’t!” Felix shouts. “But you were supposed to be! You were supposed to be there with me!” _Fuck,_ he says as he finally managed to injure Glenn’s wrist. _Fuck,_ he screams as Glenn release his sword. _Fuck, fuck, fuck,_ he curses as he throws a fist at Glenn’s left cheek, then his right, then to his liver, then to his jaw. _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck you-_ he tears up as he mounts and continues to punch his brother. _It fucking hurt. It fucking hurt,_ he nearly chokes as a tooth came out, and then another. _I’m sorry. I’m fucking sorry._ He shouldn’t be like this. Sylvain never made him like this. Dimitri never made him break his façade. Even the professor- _Shit. Shit._

He stops and looks up. It’s after dark already. Holes are being torn at the inky-black sky.

“Is that all?”

“You never shut up, don’t you?” Felix says. “Fine. It’s my loss.”

“No. You fought well,” Glenn says. “That’s enough of your stubbornness for tonight. Now get off me, you little piglet. Would want to enjoy the view too.”

Felix obeys and provides enough space between them. No one spoke for a while.

“I knew you’ve never been to Brigid. Or a beach,” Felix says. “You said seawater tasted sweet. I made a fool of myself when I accompanied the professor to Rhodos.”

“Oh dear, you really did fall for it,” Glenn laughs, the loudest that Felix heard. “That must’ve been quite a sight.”

“Yes, you would’ve made it worse, somehow,” Felix sighs. “You always made sure I’d be a bigger fool than the last.”

“You got used to it though. I mean, you don’t cry anymore now.” 

“Yeah, waste of energy. Could’ve used that time to practice not getting messed with again.”

Glenn kept his sight at the glassy ocean. “You developed wisdom, yet you never grew taller than me. The goddess works wonders, doesn’t she?”

“Damn you to oblivion, you bastard,” Felix said, folding his arms in defiance. “Next time I see you, I’ll teach you to shut up.”

“Still a sensitive little prick. Guess there are some things that will never change,” Glenn grins. The beach seems to glow from the lights above. The quiet provided a layer of melancholy.

“I never thought I’d be able to beat you.”

Glenn doesn’t answer.

“I still don’t know… what I’m going to do after the war’s over,” Felix says. “There are a lot of things I’m unsure of. I’m just not there yet.”

“Do you think you can get out of here?” his older brother asks.

“What?”

“I mean get out of this beach. This island.”

Felix turns his head and noticed the ominous shadows of the trees. “There are a ton of trees there. Maybe we can build a raft or-“

“Let’s get to it then,” Glenn says without missing a beat. Felix looks up confused, but follows his brother and looks for enough firewood to provide enough light for them to begin their construction.

Funny, absolutely ingenious, how Glenn would always answer his dilemmas by giving him another dilemma to pore over the first. Good thing how he could make it evening here far longer, enough time for him to work with his brother again, scurrying to and fro as his brother gave the approximate measurement, as earnestly as the wood began to look similar to a small boat they once attempted to sail, only to sink just ten knots away from the Faerghus coast.

“Are you afraid, Felix?” his brother then said as they push their small raft near the white foamy shores.

“That it will be like last time?”

“Suppose it won’t be like last time and it actually floats with people onboard. Will you be afraid of moving forward, even if it’ll be just you out there?”

“I won’t be now, right? I mean, you’re-“

Glenn shakes his head. “In you go, little brother. Time for you to set sail. Thought you’ve been waiting too long for this night to come.”

Felix bit his lip. Harder until he can taste the copper in his mouth. He’ll keep his word. He won’t cry too. Glenn will tease him again. “Sure you’ll be able to push me? I am quite a fatass piglet, y’know.”

He laughed, showing his missing teeth. “Yeah, I still have enough strength for one more push.”

Felix nearly opens his mouth to say something as Glenn continues to push. Glenn doesn’t complain as he little by little the sand gives way to the starlit sea.

“You’ll be alone there, Felix. None of us will be there to assist you,” Glenn murmurs. “You won’t have anyone else to blame then for your mistakes but yourself.”

Felix nods and covers his eyes.

“Without us to judge your ass, will be the time you dare more boldly. The seas will be wider. The storms will be stronger. No shorelines to sail too close to,” he says as he pushes his boat one last time. Felix nearly stands up as he looks at his brother, his smiling, steadfast, still unbeatable brother. He blinks back tears. “But in losing sight of land, you’ll find the stars.”

His brother waves with both hands. “I’m proud of you, Felix, whatever you’ll become!”

Felix closes his eyes, and then wakes up.

**FIN**

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are greatly appreciated! My twitter is @angeldescndnt !


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